Mobtown Shank

MD Filmfest 2013 Insider Picks: Eric Allen Hatch

 

Wednesday May 8 -  Sunday May 12
15TH ANNUAL MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL
The Charles Theater.
1711 N. Charles St.
"Station North" Baltimore.

Director of Programming Eric Allen Hatch’s Maryland Film Fest 2013 “Insider Picks”

Each year Maryland Film Festival rolls out roughly 50 feature films and 75 short films. As MFF’s director of programming, I love them all (and I really do!). But as a civilian who happens to have an inside track on what’s screening, I also love having a forum here in the Shank (thanks, Benn!) where I can give a wink and a nudge about films I’d be particularly psyched about as a festivalgoer.

A baker’s dozen is thirteen, right? Here’s a baker’s dozen films that are screening within MFF 2013—thirteen titles that I love, and that I also think will specifically grab Shank readers:

12 O’CLOCK BOYS
I don’t need to recommend this film, probably. The tickets are selling like hotcakes. It’s the most anticipated work on Baltimore street culture since The Wire. It also happens to be very, very good, and contains some of the most exhilarating shots of our city ever captured by a camera. Experience it here and now, before the rest of the world does.


BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
I know there are a few people reading this who either A. fetishize analog recording equipment and/or B. are obsessed with Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, and the like. If so, THIS IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU. DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT NOT SEEING THIS FILM. For the rest of you: it’s an atmospheric head-trip about a nebbishy sound designer working on a '70s Italian horror movie, with a soundtrack by Broadcast.

BRING ME THE HEAD OF WTF SHORTS
The WTF Shorts program has become a signature event for our festival, and if I were going to recommend one (of our 10) shorts programs to Shank readers, it would be this one. This is where we place the year’s most fucked up, uncategorizable, insane short films. #Postmodem, The Apocalypse, and Alan Resnick’s tutorials are particularly and emphatically what-the-fucky.


COMPUTER CHESS
If Robert Altman in his prime had shot an ensemble comedy about computer-chess nerds on a bank security camera, the result might be something like this endlessly inventive film. Wiley Wiggins (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life) stars, and will be in town to host our screenings. No chess knowledge needed to enjoy! One of the most original films I’ve seen in the last year! I have seen over 1,000 in movies in the last year!


DOWNLOADED
A smart, incisive documentary about the rise and fall of Napster, giving The Social Network a run for its money in telling a thrilling story about an internet innovation that all too quickly takes on a global life of its own. Expertly directed by Alex Winter—yes, Bill S. Preston Esq. of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Lost Boys fame, not to mention the co-creator of the cult classic Freaked—who will be here to host our screenings.

HERE COMES THE DEVIL
A diabolical Mexican horror film that channels both Picnic at Hanging Rock and Village of the Damned in the service of something brand new. Subtle at first, and then… well, it’s one of the goriest and most deranged films we’ve shown at the festival.

I AM DIVINE
The definitive documentary about Divine! Made with the full participation of John Waters, Divine’s mom, and the surviving Dreamlanders! Run, don’t walk!

If We Shout Loud Enough - Trailer (Double Dagger documentary) from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

IF WE SHOUT LOUD ENOUGH
This is the Double Dagger documentary! Duh!


IF FELT LIKE LOVE
Do you like Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl, Romance)? This is by far the closest thing I’ve seen to an American director channeling that raw, unnervingly honest look at young female sexuality that she does so well. An important movie that people will be talking about for a long time!


MUSEUM HOURS
Jem Cohen, perhaps best known for the Fugazi film Instrument, delivers a gentle, patient character study about a senior-aged Austrian museum guard. If this sounds like something you would like: you are correct!


PARADISE: LOVE
Ulrich Seidl (of the devastating Import/Export) is back with his Paradise trilogy, each telling the story of a different member of a suburban Austrian family as they misbehave over their summer vacation. We’re screening all three, but each one can be enjoyed as a separate story, and this is my favorite. A middle-aged Austrian woman engages in sexual tourism in Kenya—disturbing subject matter handled almost as a Happiness-era Todd Solondz would’ve, with plenty of laughter intermingled with the bitter, awkward tears.


POST TENEBRAS LUX
If Andrei Tarkovsky were alive, Mexican, and under the age of 40, he would’ve made this art film “about” a family torn apart by class differences and animal cruelty. And if you go to the movies to be challenged, and are prepared to see a movie that you will either hate, love, or (most likely outcome) hate and then come to love: well, Post Tenebras Lux!


THE RAMBLER
Now that David Lynch has all but stopped making movies in favor of Transcendental Meditation fundraisers with Paul and Ringo, Calvin Reeder makes the world’s best new David Lynch films (with a little bit of Repo Man tossed into the mix). The Rambler gets even closer to the lysergic energy of Reeder’s incredible 16mm short films than did his prior feature The Oregonian, and Dermot Mulroney gets major props for attaching himself to a film this unrelentingly deranged.

What else? Well, this is a watershed year for film in Baltimore, and in addition to those MD-centric movies mentioned above, we have an unprecedented cornucopia of other awesome Maryland-made features that hold their own with our international offerings, including:
-- Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk’s Catonsville 9 documentary Hit & Stay
--Matt Bowden and Joe Compton’s New Orleans gospel documentary By and By
--Matt Porterfield’s Sundance-premiered, Mike Leigh-tinged I Used to Be Darker
--Zach Clark’s holiday-themed, John Waters-influenced White Reindeer
--and the omnibus horror film V/H/S/2, boasting a Frederick-made segment from Blair Witch Project’s Ed Sanchez.

We also have Alloy Orchestra (featuring Mission of Burma’s Roger Miller!) presenting 1925 silent classic The Lost World, John Waters presenting the naughtiest film in Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise trilogy, Paradise: Faith; an incredibly rigorous and surprisingly amusing documentary about rebuilding Ground Zero from the editor of Capturing the Friedmans called 16 Acres; the latest from David Gordon Green, the Paul Rudd-starring buddy movie Prince Avalanche; an exquisitely morose Turkish art-house film, Watchtower; Sophie Fiennes’ Žižek sequel, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology; extremely strong Sundance dramas Pit Stop, This Is Martin Bonner, and A Teacher; and Bobcat Goldthwait’s found-footage Bigfoot extravaganza, Willow Creek (yes, he’ll be here)!

Whew! It’ll all be awesome, but there’s a cheat sheet of sorts for you. Feel free to tweet some questions to me at @ericallenhatch if you care to, or comment here, and either way I’ll do my best to get back to you. Thanks for reading!

And The Oscar Goes To... UPDATE - Fail!

Tonight is the 85th Annual Academy Awards. Over the past few years, The Shank has been working on an Oscar-predicting formula, and this year we're ready to go public with our picks.

So here's how our data suggests tonight will go down:

Best Picture: Argo     
X Best Director: Steven Spielberg – Lincoln 
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln 
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
X Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables   
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Argo
X Writing Original Screenplay: Amour
X Best Animated Feature: Wreck it Ralph
Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man
Foreign Language Film: Amour
Cinematography: Claudio Miranda - Life of Pi
X Production Design: Anna Karenina
Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran - Anna Karenina
X Documentary Short: Mondays at Racine      
Film Editing: Argo
X Makeup: The Hobbit
Music (Original Score): Mychael Danna - Life of Pi
Music - Original Song: "Skyfall" from Skyfall
Short Film Animated: Paperman
Short Film - Live Action: Curfew
X Sound Editing: Life of Pi
Sound Mixing: Les Miserables
Visual Effects: Life of Piwe

UPDATE: Only 16 out of 24 or 67% correct. Looks like we still have some work to do....

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Baltimore - City of Promise: RATS!

Below is an image from a Baltimore city school textbook (written by students) from 1953 called Baltimore: City of Promise.

I was surprised to find that the city, at one time, published its own textbooks to teach children local history.

I'll be posting more images from the book in the upcoming weeks.

If you look at all the Balt. Rat stickers floating around town, you might get the impression Baltimore was the only city that had a rat infestation problem. Well, it's not.

But yes, we do have rats. We've had them for years.

The image below looks at Baltimore City's 1947 rat population.

Baltimore - City of Promise: 1950 Disposition of Cases

Below is an image from a Baltimore city school textbook (written by students) from 1953 called Baltimore: City of Promise.

I was surprised to find that the city, at one time, published its own textbooks to teach children local history.

I'll be posting more images from the book in the upcoming weeks.

Following up on yesterday's crime post, this chart breaks down the disposition of cases in 1950.

Baltimore - City of Promise: 1950 Baltimore City Crime Picture

Below is an image from a Baltimore city school textbook (written by students) from 1953 called Baltimore: City of Promise.

I was surprised to find that the city, at one time, published its own textbooks to teach children local history.

I'll be posting more images from the book in the upcoming weeks.

When people think Baltimore, one of the first things that come to most people's minds is crime.

This image looks at "Baltimore's Crime Picture" in 1950.

Baltimore - City of Promise: 1940 Life Expectancy

Below is an image from a Baltimore city school textbook (written by students) from 1953 called Baltimore: City of Promise.

I was surprised to find that the city, at one time, published its own textbooks to teach children local history.

I'll be posting more images from the book in the upcoming weeks.

This graphic takes a look at the average life expectancy of black and white children born in 1940.

That means most of the black Baltimoreans born in 1940 would have died by 1994.

Most of the whites would have died in 2005.

You can view Baltimore life expectancy today by neighborhoods.

Rage Against The Ryan/Christie On The Edge Of Town - UPDATED

This past week, presumptive Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan revealed his favorite band is Rage Against the Machine.

Over the years, Republican Governor of New Jersey Chris Cristie has made it very clear that Bruce Springsteen is his favorite musician.

While Springsteen has chosen to ignore Christie, Tom Morello opted to write a piece for Rolling Stone about Ryan's love of his band.

In both cases, there seems to be a gross disconnect between the fan and the message/theme/principles of the musicians involved. So the Shank asked a number of musician friends what they thought about this situation.

Jean Owens (The Tritons):
I think many people connect with music without taking notice of the message or musician's principles, instead either just for the catchy sound/beat/genre, for their own associations with it (like it reminds them of being in high school, of hanging out with friends, etc.), and/or maybe just because it's very popular and therefore good in their minds. Some people are really bad at hearing/understanding lyrics too.  It's probably not fair to say that this describes non-musician or non-creative types, but there seems to be a correlation in this disconnect, as if for them music is really just a trendy product to be consumed, like artwork purchased just because it matches the color scheme in a room. All of these scenarios could apply to the politicians you mentioned -- Christie no doubt feels he's making a smart political move to proclaim his love of Springsteen, probably the most famous NJ pop musician ever. It's hard to know what's going on with Ryan. Maybe, like Christie, Ryan is trying to seem cool/young to appeal to a broader voting constituency.

Skizz Cyzyk (The Jennifers, Garage Sale, Go-Pills):
Maybe they just can't understand the lyrics. That would make sense in the case of Ryan and RATM, because I know I can't understand what RATM is shouting. If I liked RATM enough, though, I'd read the lyric sheet and try to figure out what they're singing about. Springsteen, however, has had enough mainstream hits on commercial radio, not all with obvious social statements, that I can understand a lot of people, especially people from Jersey, identifying with him without understanding where he's coming from. To be fair, I like some music made by people whose political leanings I don't agree with, and whose art touches on themes that have nothing to do with my lifestyle. Alice Cooper, for example. I doubt Mr. Cooper and I ever vote for the same candidate, nor does my life have much to do with dead babies, sick things, and loving the dead, but I'm still a big Alice Cooper fan.

Lee Ashlin (Adults):
In short, I see this particular situation as being less about Paul Ryan being clueless and more about the failure of Rage Against The Machine to articulate and act on their principles. It also shows the limitations of protest music and marketing yourself as protest music in a pop music marketplace. You can scream all day long about how much you hate cops, the government, the banks, whatever lefty boogie man you can think of, but that doesn't matter if the only things people pay attention to are heavy beats and guitar solos. I don't believe Paul Ryan is clueless or a dumb ass. I think he knows exactly what Rage Against the Machine was talking about, understands it, and just flat out doesn't care. And why should he? RATM is a broken up rock band who made piles of money selling CDs in the 1990s to teenagers who were too young to vote. He's a congressman in 2012.

Jesse Morgan (South Carey):
I think it has to do with not really liking music, but not wanting to sound like a repressed weirdo by saying "I don't like music." To not possess a common touch is to lose the election. The Ryan one is the real headscratcher. I can get Christie saying Springsteen is his favorite; he's the Governor of New Jersey! It's either that or Sinatra, and all the old folks from Jersey moved to Florida already. So he won't impress any voters by naming Old Blue Eyes. I'd guess Ryan said Rage Against The Machine because it's something his trainer plays while he's doing PX90. It was probably the first thing that came to mind, when he really treats it as background music.

Mike Riley (Pulling Teeth, Firestarter Records):
One of the things that attracted me to punk/hardcore in the first place was the fact that many of the bands had "something to say". They presented a message beyond the mediocre tripe of mainstream rock and heavy music. Since the '80s, any kind of critical social or political message coming from mainstream bands has always been trivialized. Folks look to mainstream music for pure entertainment, an escape from the things that matter. I've always had a strong disdain for those types of people. Again, music with a message is important to me. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't surprise me when someone like Paul Ryan says RATM is one of his favorite bands or Chris Christie and Ronald Reagan want to use Bruce Springsteen as their theme music. Those kinds of people don't give two shits about the message behind the music. They like it for the sound or the general feeling, plain and simple, or even just the chorus in Reagan's case. I think it points to what a superficial culture the American one generally is. We want everything quick, easy, and meaningless, and if something isn't meaningless, we'll ignore the substance to the best of our ability.

Sarah Pinsker (Stalking Horses):
It boggles my mind when politicians claim to identify with bands that are clearly antithetical to their own political missions. Sometimes it comes across as failure to read the lyrics carefully, like the adoption of "Born in the USA" as a patriotic anthem. But when they claim the artist's entire body of work as a favorite, as in your examples above? I just can't figure out what they're thinking. Maybe they want to be identified as cool? Maybe they're trying to woo some of the band's fans to the dark side? Maybe Ryan was trying to imply his anger at big government? But then they get slapped on the wrist by the musicians, and end up looking even dumber. Usually they go out of their way to mention bland favorite things: Books everyone likes,TV shows everyone is watching, beer brands that the heartland can identify with. Maybe they hope that voters have been trained to divorce entertainment from message? I don't know. I don't get it.

Pete Wright:
Just when I was getting over the irony of Tom Morello: Marxist millionaire rockstar! I think it's as simple as "because THEY ROCK!" Despite their politics, they seem like the kind of guys that would be into that music. If they were into someone like Of Montreal or something, it would be more surprising. Pop music has a long history of people not getting the point regardless of the musician's intent.

John Irvine (The Jennifers):
I think Chris Christie has to say he loves the Boss - he's the Governor of New Jersey, and it would be political suicide to say otherwise. I think Ryan's professed love of Rage Against the Machine is probably more genuine. Everyone thinks their position is right. And Ryan probably sees himself as an outsider, fighting the powers that be in Washington. I think a lot of American conservatives think that they are scrappy insurgents, fighting a system that is rigged against them by "big government" and the "liberal media". When Ryan hears "not gonna do what they told you", that's the "they" he thinks of. It's laughable, but I think sincere.

John Smith (formerly of The Great Northern):
As a person who does try to put myself, and what i believe, into my work, it's kind of horrifying to think of someone who's principles I abhor saying that I was their favorite artist. It's the kind of thing that makes me start to question the purpose of art.

Yuri Zietz (Monster Museum):
Didn't Reagan use "Born in the USA" as one of his campaign songs, in order to engender a patriotic stance in keeping with his whole "morning in America" thing?  It's become one of the most prominent examples of politicians missing the subtext, if not the point, of modern artists and songwriting.  Not to generalize, but given the recent Paul Ryan example, Republicans seem to be especially bad at this. I was originally going to write a diatribe about how the political right is escalating a war against women, minorities, and the poor and disadvantaged, all while selling them a culture based on consumerism and fear in order to grease the wheels of their corporate masters, but let's stay focused on music for the sake of this piece. Pre-ubiquitous internet, a lot of teenagers listened to the radio for their music fix. It was free, and music stations played songs most of the time. Rage Against the machine got played a lot, and were quite popular.  Zack de la Rocha's lyrics, powerful and angry, delivered with such force and vitriol.  The monumental, crushing riffs and far-out sounds from Morello's guitar and effects pedals, anchored by a thunderous and solid rhythm section.  If you're an angry teenager (a redundant phrase?), then you can't help but be drawn in. In this (and likely only this) regard, Ryan and I are on the same page. The music stirred something deep within us, evoking feeling in such a way that only music can: going beyond everyday emotion and intellect, pulling forth something primal and rich. Now that the internet is everywhere, and has become a useful tool for artists to self-promote, it is easy to add accompanying media to your sound files online to enhance the listening experience for potential fans. One can, for example, choose to list the lyrics to one's songs in a pulldown menu on the popular music site Bandcamp.  Pre-internet, you had to do some serious listening to understand everything over pounding drums, roaring guitar, and through the ear-exhausting limiting that was and remains a staple of "rock" radio. Or, you know, buy the album and read the lyrics (if included). Listening to flagship song "Killing in the Name," I couldn't discern all of what de la Rocha was saying, but I could get a bit further than the energizing "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" to understand that it was about police brutality and violence. Google searching the lyrics: "Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites." The song comes to mean something else. Learning this, you have a greater insight into the genesis of the song by the people who created it: you understand why these four musicians are angry, and it certainly concerns bigger injustices than having to clean your room or sit in detention for an afternoon because you copied another student's answers. This is what music is all about: communication. It's freeing, it's beautiful, and it can inspire like no other art form. And, looking back to the earliest forms of music pre-written communication, it's about storytelling and shared history. This is why I believe the political right to have such a problem "getting it." The right has been known to limit and condemn the arts and arts education, slashing school budgets and attacking benevolent entities like public television (or Planned Parenthood, but that's a whole other hypocrisy that I'll leave for another time). Music isn't just background music, a mating call, or a war cry. This is important. It's about history, and it has an amazing history of its own. Look at what's happening right now to the three members of the Pussy Riot collective in Russia: these ladies are going to PRISON FOR YEARS for doing something that in this country would get them a couple of weeks of community service, at most. Of course, it's not about hooliganism, it's about change and political activism. The music, in this case, is a very direct means to express injustice and dissent. I'm not voting for Ryan. I'm not pulling for Putin either, but hey, at least he bothered to listen to the lyrics.

Rage Against The Machine image by Lalo Alcaraz

Baltimore - City of Promise: More Or Less

Below is an image from a Baltimore city school textbook (written by students) from 1953 called Baltimore: City of Promise.

I was surprised to find that the city, at one time, published its own textbooks to teach children local history.

I'll be posting more images from the book in the upcoming weeks.

The below 2 page spread shows what Baltimore students felt, in 1950, the city needed more and less of.

Baltimore has too much of this:
- endless scrubbing
- no space to play
- churches without quiet
- shops that are too far apart

And not enough of this:
- recreation close by for everybody
- schools within easy walking distance for children
- quiet home, ample play area, adequate parking, schools away from traffic

Today was see a city effort to decrease and privatize public spaces to play, and sprawl and schools are regular topics of discussion.

But it's interesting that students thought people were too clean and churches were too noisy.

Baltimore - City of Promise: Rents, 1950

Below is an image from a Baltimore city school textbook (written by students) from 1953 called Baltimore: City of Promise.

I was surprised to find that the city, at one time, published its own textbooks to teach children local history.

I'll be posting more images from the book in the upcoming weeks.

The following is a chart looks at monthly rents in Baltimore and the metro area from 1950.

If you're a renter, I don't know what you're paying, but man would it be nice if rents were still in this range.

Baltimore - City of Promise: Home Values, 1950

Below is an image from a Baltimore city school textbook (written by students) from 1953 called Baltimore: City of Promise.

I was surprised to find that the city, at one time, published its own textbooks to teach children local history.

I'll be posting more images from the book in the upcoming weeks.

The following is a chart looks at home values in Baltimore and the metro area from 1950.

If you're part of the ownership class, just imagine what kind of taxes you'd be paying, with property values like these. But then, this is how much your property would be worth, so...